Family Says Parrot Is Key Witness in Man's Murder

'Don't f---ing shoot'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 4, 2016 11:09 AM CDT
Family Says Parrot Is Key Witness in Man's Murder
Stock photo   (Shutterstock)

Can a foul-mouthed parrot act as a witness to a murder? That's the question Martin Duram's family wants answered after Duram was killed in his Michigan home in May 2015, WOOD reports. Weeks after the murder, Duram's African grey parrot, Bud, could be heard repeating the phrase "Don't f---ing shoot." Bud would also talk to himself in two distinct voices in what the owner of a Michigan exotic bird store says is “definitely an argument between a man and a woman.” According to MLive, Duram, 45, was shot five times while clad only in his underwear. His wife, Glenna, was found with a gunshot to the head but survived. She's now a suspect in a possible failed murder-suicide.

Glenna's daughter from another marriage told Fox 17 her mother and Duram were frequently talking trash to each other. Family members recall Glenna frequently talking about killing Duram or simply waiting for him to die, only sometimes seeming to be joking. The couple had money and gambling issues, and Duram required special care after suffering a brain injury in a car crash. But with more than a year having passed with no charges filed, Duram's family is getting fed up. They have video of Bud reenacting what they say are the final moments of Duram's life, and they want police to listen to what the parrot has to say. “That bird picks up everything and anything, and it’s got the filthiest mouth around,” Duram’s mother tells WOOD. (This parrot was actually detained by police.)

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